Invincible Iron Man Vol 1 596
* * ** ** ** ** Supporting Characters: * * * * Antagonists: * * Iron Maiden's henchmen * ** ** ** Other Characters: * * * * Numerous unnamed Chicagoans * * * Xavier King's mother * * * * * Races and Species: * * * * * Locations: * ** *** **** ***** ****** *** **** **** Tony Stark's secret lab ***** ** ** *** **** Victor von Doom's villa Items: * * * * * * Numerous unidentified * | Synopsis1 = Brief Summary While confronting Iron Maiden, Ironheart decides to concede and allow her and her henchmen to confiscate her belongings, so to avoid escalating the situation and risk her neighbors' safety. Meanwhile, Victor von Doom is attacked at his French Riviera mansion by The Hood, Living Laser and the Corruptor. With effort, he manages to fend off the attack, knocking down Living Laser, killing Corruptor and driving off The Hood. Meanwhile, Tony Stark continues struggling to get up. In the process, he confronts an hallucination of his father Howard, whom he berates for never telling him he was adopted. On the directions of the Tony Stark A.I., Amanda Armstrong, MJ Watson and Friday reach the abandoned factory in New Jersey where Tony is hiding. Unfortunately, they miss him by a small margin, and only find the empty Iron Man Armor he was wearing. In his garage, Riri Williams is approached by Blade with an offer. Detailed Summary Ironheart continues berating Iron Maiden for attempting to confiscate her belongings, citing more pressing matters such as Tony Stark's disappearance or Victor von Doom being on the loose. Riri eventually stops mid-sentence and decides to give away her suit, admitting that since she did reverse engineer Stark's tech, it isn't legally hers. As Iron Maiden and her henchmen prepare to leave, Riri explains to her mother that she didn't want to risk the integrity of their house or the safety of her neighbors fighting Vostokoff. Iron Maiden taunts Riri one last time before leaving. While Riri's mother chides the intruders as they leave, Riri talks with Xavier King. He then leaves, encouraging Riri to see this incident in a better light. Once Riri is alone with her mother, she confirms she back-ups of the things that have been taken. At his French Riviera villa, Victor von Doom responds to the Hood's attacks with a series of dangerous and powerful dark magic spells, and manages to take down the Living Laser while evading the Hood's bullets and the Corruptor's blasts. Using his mystic-based ability of mind-control, Victor gets the Hood to point his own gun at himself. However, before getting Robbins to pull the trigger, Victor is caught off-guard by the Corruptor and knocked down. While the villains are gloating, Doom forces the Hood to shoot Corruptor on the head. As Victor suits up in his Iron Man Armor, the Hood teleports away while opening fire. The narration that followed the fight and detailed its events notices that Doom shouldn't have struggled fighting the villains he just defeated. While still clad in his Iron Man Armor, Tony Stark wakes up to find himself hallucinating of his father Howard. Howard's vision demands to know why isn't Tony asking for help. Tony replies that he doesn't want to involve anybody in what he has done to himself. Howard reminds Tony that unlike him, he did ask people for help if he needed it. Tony suggests he must've gotten this trait from his his actual father, and proceeds to reproach Howard for never telling him the truth of his parentage. In addition to pointing out that Maria also never revealed the truth, Howard's hallucination reminds Tony of the good things he did and the opportunities he gave him. He was hard on Tony, but because Tony had hit the jackpot in life and wanted to ensure he did something with it. Tony asks Howard once again why didn't he tell him he was adopted. Before vanishing, Howard simply tells Tony that he was his son, and him being adopted didn't matter to him. Tony tries to stand up but falls down. Howard's disembodied voice reminds Tony again to ask for help. He desperately calls out for Rhodey. Aboard a small aircraft modeled after an Iron Man armor, Amanda Armstrong, MJ Watson, Friday and the Tony Stark A.I. are soaring through the New Jersey Turnpike, being directed by the latter to an abandoned factory. When they arrive, Friday notices the entire building is shielded from her scans. They reach a door, and Friday manages to get them through it. Amanda and MJ run through the corridors calling out Tony's name and find a laboratory. At the turn of a corner, Amanda appears to find Tony collapsed on the floor inside the armor. However, when she takes off the armor's helmet, it turns out to be empty, to her disappointment. Amanda looks around and notices footprints in the floor. Friday determines that while Tony isn't at the present location, he was very recently. Amanda finds comfort in knowing that he's at least alive. Back at Riri's now-empty garage, Riri looks at her phone and calls somebody to accept an offer. She's interrupted by Blade, who promises her his offer is better. | Solicit = THE SEARCH FOR TONY STARK Part 4 • Doom is trapped in a hell of his own making, Riri makes a huge choice for the future and the mystery of Tony Stark begins to reveal itself – and it’s a shocker! Who is behind Iron Man’s amazing resurrection, and is this the Tony we all know and love? | Notes = * The cover for this issue was originally solicited for back in 2016. | Trivia = * While taunting Doom, the Corruptor asks him to say something in the lines of "it is Doom who pulls the strings!" This is an almost verbatim repetition of a line spoken by Doctor Doom in the final page of the infamous ''Ultimates 3''. | Recommended = | Links = }}